# User Research

> Conducting user discovery, qualitative research, and persona development to understand customer needs and pain points. Use when preparing for discovery interviews, creating customer journey maps, mapping jobs-to-be-done (JTBD), or building proto-personas.

- Skill: `knuckles-team/user-research` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add knuckles-team/user-research`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/knuckles-team/user-research/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Product & Planning
- License: MIT
- Author: Knuckles-Team (https://skillmd.com/u/knuckles-team)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/knuckles-team/user-research

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# User Research & Discovery

Systematically uncover customer insights to ensure we build products that solve real problems.

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## 1. Discovery Interview Preparation

Before talking to users, define a structured research plan.

### Interview Guide Structure:
- **Hypothesis**: What single thing do we want to validate or invalidate?
- **Screener**: Who is the ideal participant? (Experience, role, behavior).
- **Opening**: Set context, assure anonymity, ask for permission to record.
- **Focus Areas**: 3–5 broad themes to explore.
- **Closing**: "Is there anything I should have asked but didn't?"

### The Golden Rule:
Ask open-ended questions. Avoid "Would you use this?" (leading). Prefer "Tell me about the last time you tried to [action]..." (experience-based).

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## 2. Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD)

Focus on the **task** the user is "hiring" the product to do, rather than their demographics.

**Formula**: "When I [situation], I want to [motivation], so I can [expected outcome]."

- **Functional Job**: The core task.
- **Emotional Job**: How the user wants to feel.
- **Social Job**: How the user wants to be perceived.

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## 3. Personas & Journey Mapping

### Proto-Personas
Create lightweight, hypothesis-based profiles to align the team.
- **Name/Role**: "Small Business owner Sam".
- **Top Goals**: What are they trying to achieve?
- **Top Frustrations**: What blocks them today?
- **Behaviors**: How do they currently solve the problem?

### Customer Journey Mapping
Visualize the user's experience across touchpoints.
- **Phases**: Awareness → Discovery → Signup → Activation → Retention.
- **Actions**: What is the user doing at each step?
- **Thinking/Feeling**: What are the highlights and pain points?
- **Opportunities**: Where can we improve the experience?

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## 4. Synthesis & Artifacts

- **Research Memo**: 1-page summary of key themes, supporting quotes, and recommended next steps.
- **Affinity Mapping**: Grouping observations into thematic clusters to identify patterns.
- **Confidence Scoring**: How sure are we of these insights based on the sample size/quality?

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## Best Practices

- **Interview in Pairs**: One person leads, one person takes notes.
- **Record and Transcribe**: Don't rely on memory; use exact customer quotes.
- **Focus on Pain**: Users are great at describing problems but often bad at prescribing solutions. Focus on the pain.
- **Continuous Discovery**: Research isn't a one-time event; aim for a regular cadence of customer conversations.